


What Kind of Friend

by Ice_Azula



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Final Haikyuu Quest, Heroes, Kageyama Tobio's Smile, M/M, Monsters, My First Work in This Fandom, i love this au dear god, my boi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-13
Updated: 2018-07-13
Packaged: 2019-06-09 21:45:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,995
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15276834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ice_Azula/pseuds/Ice_Azula
Summary: Really, Hinata doesn't know why he enjoys getting under his partner’s skin so much, but he does seem to go out of his way to fuck with him from time to time. Maybe it's because of how easy Kageyama is to rile up. Maybe it's the sense of satisfaction, of knowing that the archer is no untouchable god, but a human being that can get mad, or flustered, or red to the face in petty anger. But he knows that he likes their relationship the way it is. A tentative friendship between two boys that can't stand each other, no matter how hard they try. It's a fun dynamic, and he wouldn't change it for the world.However, when their second year of partnership begins to come to a close, Hinata comes to a sudden realization.He has never seen his archer smile.





	What Kind of Friend

Kageyama Tobio has been on the hero’s party since the very beginning.

 

He joined around the same time as Aone, a little after the whole rebellion began. He was arrogant, and mean, and Hinata couldn't stand to be around him, but Kemna insisted that they make him join. The mage wasn't wrong, he rarely is, because Kageyama was unbelievable skilled. Not that Shouyou would ever admit that.

Still, it was hard to look past the archer’s asshole attitude, and see the useful ally they could have against the Grand King. His eyes were sharp as an eagle’s when spotting a target, and the archer’s ability to melt into the shadows proved to be valuable in battle. Kageyama was also an incredible swordsman, which might have made Shouyou a tiny bit jealous. He was agile and fast, like the very monsters they fought against with every rising sun. Demons would fail to notice his approach until they saw the silver arrow growing closer between their eyes. His footsteps are light, his hands calloused, his body chiseled. Watching him jump into the trees, and spin, and fight, and aim with unimaginable position into the enemy’s heart is a strange mixture of inspiring and terrifying.

Shouyou and Kageyama got along like oil and water, snapping at each other, bickering without reason and sometimes even putting the party in jeopardy. It took them a good portion of the first year as a team to warm up to each other, and become actually partners, and even then, the banter did not subside. 

Really, the hero doesn't know why he enjoys getting under his partner’s skin so much, but he does seem to go out of his way to fuck with him a lot. Maybe it's because of how easy Kageyama is to rile up. Maybe it's the sense of satisfaction, of knowing that the archer is no untouchable god, but a human that can get flustered or red in the face in petty anger. But he knows that he likes their relationship the way it is. A tentative friendship between two boys that can't stand each other, no matter how hard they try. It's a fun dynamic, and he wouldn't change it for the world. However, when their second year of partnership begins to come to a close, Shouyou comes to a sudden realization.

He has never seen his archer smile.

He voices his thoughts to Kenma as soon as they present themselves, but the mage does not get the same wide-eyed, slack jawed look Hinata displays. Just a raised, offensive eyebrow.

“Really?” He drawls. “Absolutely never?” Shouyou nods rapidly, having expected a bit more of a… reaction, to say the least. Wasn't it odd? It seems unreasonable, that someone spend so long without letting his lips curl into the tiniest, honest smile. Not a superior simper, or a sarcastic smirk, just a genuine smile. Shouyou does it all the time. So does Iwaizumi, and even Aone, whose face is almost always blank and stoic. It's not possible. Is it?

“Of course not,” Kenma rolls his eyes, and Shouyou flushes when he realizes he said it outloud.

They’d set camp on a rainy forest near a nearby village. The party was headed south, were Iwaizumi insisted that they go visit a friend of his to join the rebellion. Kenma and Shouyou shared a tent, much to the former’s disappointed, considering Shouyou’s ability to stay up for hours, just babbling partly to his friend and partly to himself. Most people would just turn away, leaving the hero to talk himself into exhaustion, but over the years Kenma had grown far too fond of him to do that.

It was the dead of night, and Shouyou could feel the bugs moving under his back through the tent’s floor. He shuddered under his covers and turns on his side to face the friend that still refuses to open his in the eyes and fully acknowledge him.

He pouted childishly. “Well, _I_ have never seen him, and I bet _you_ haven't either, huh? So, what do you have to say about _that_ , oh, powerful, luminous, glimmering, mage of  the-”

 

“I’ve seen him.”

“-You _what?”_ The hero sputtered incredulously, and the white mage allowed himself a small, satisfied smile. He shifted, stretching his legs and arms as Shouyou practically jumped from his own bed.

“You’ve _got_ to be kidding me,” He insisted, leaning forward on his elbows and almost jumped from his bed sheets for real when Kemna shook head.

 That couldn't be right. Shouyou spent almost every waking hour of the day with Kageyama, more so than anyone. Kenma stayed inside all day working potions and spells and other magic bullshit to help in battle, Aone hunted and cooked, Iwaizumi practiced with his swords, and Kageyama and Shouyou scouted. For _hours_. There is no way that Kenma got to witness Kageyama in a state other than ‘mildly annoyed’ in the few minutes of social interaction they have daily, when Shouyou can go without seeing any other state for _days_.

Shouyou knows every part of Kageyama like the back of his hand. He knows how clumsy he is outside of battle. How awkward he is despite his confident demeanor. How he can't grow facial hair to save his life, how like most people he couldn't read or write but he _could_ tell you how a cow produces six to seven gallons of milk a day if milked two to three times. How he hates every single one of Shouyou’s nicknames with the same burning passion, and how he's in a weird state of mind because he sometimes seems to hate himself yet still believes that he is better than everyone else.

 

If he knows all of that, but couldn't describe his partner’s smile, then there has to be a reason. _The smile doesn't exist._

 

“Liar,” Shouyou accused with narrowed eyes. Kenma snorted.

“Why are you surprised? He does it all the time.”

Shouyou almost chokes on his own words, trying to get out the protest that _no, he does not!_ “I’ve never seen him!”

“Ask Iwaizumi or Aone or _anyone_ , they’ll tell you it's the truth.”

The second Kenma moves head to the side and opens his eyes into a shocked expression is the second Hinata realizes how miserable he must look. Which, makes sense, considering he just found out that maybe he and his archer weren't as close as he thought. He feels like a jerk, and a bad friend, even if he _knows_ it shouldn't mean anything. Maybe Shouyou just doesn't pay that much attention. Maybe he’s seen it before, just doesn't remember. Maybe…

 

Maybe he’s just a bad teammate.

 

What kind of friend can spend day after day with someone and never see them happy, never _make_ them happy, or truly comfortable enough to smile?

What kind of friend is Shouyou?

Kenma scans his crestfallen expression for a few more seconds. Whatever he was about to say vanished from his tongue, and the mage ends up turning the opposite direction and gazing at the wall.

“Don't…” Kenma hesitates for a second, “Don't think too hard on it, Shouyou." He curls into a tiny ball, both legs tight against his chest. “You’ll see it soon enough. Just… keep your eyes open when it matters.”

He says it with finality, as if he’s done with the conversation. Most nights, that doesn't mean anything. Even in complete darkness and silence, Shouyou would still voice the first thought worthy of being shared that popped into his brain afterwards. Kenma would groan, beg him to _go to sleep, Shouyou_ , and Shouyou would allow himself a soft laugh at the mage’s expense.

Shouyou turns around one last time and hears the leaves snapping through his pillow, under the weight of his head.

 

He’s asleep almost the second he closes his eyes.

 

He woke up to the sound of screaming, and a powerful battle cry. The tent was shaking violently, and the left side of it seemingly collapsed, covering Shouyou’s legs and blocking the door. His vision was clouded, as if someone was flashing lights at him as his world moves, and almost on instinct he reached for his sword.

In one move, he cut through the roof of the orange tent, was is already on his feet and heading to battle. 

He allowed himself to take pride in his quirk response, as he's soon slashing through the monsters he assumes had been crowding around the tent awaiting their next meal of the day. The sword is light in his hand, the way the hero is light on his feet as he moves around the field swiftly.

He began to tone out his surrounding, allowing himself to get carried away by just raw instinct, or whatever it was that has kept him alive his whole life. He can see the demons’ approach, their movements, their dark magic radiating off them and nothing else _._  He uses his other senses to look for his team.

“Shouyou! Finally!” Came Kenma’s cry of relief.

“About time, sleepy head!” He could hear Iwaizumi’s voice, as well as the knight’s playful laugh that followed the nickname.

“I apologize, Hinata, I didn't- _couldn't_ see them approaching- They must have been covered by some spell-or- or-” that had to be Aone’s voice. The monk had been on the lookout as the party slept. Poor thing, he sounds so ashamed, Hinata has to keep himself to jump to his side and reassure him.

 

Those were three out of four members of his party, excluding himself, so he was only missing…

 

“ _G_ _et down, you dumbass!”_

 

Almost on instinct, Shouyou presses his back against the nearest tree and drops into a crouch. The branches rustle as the one remaining monster from the hero’s bunch continue their approach, and for a split second Hinata wonders if maybe following Kageyama’s instructions had been a mistake.

And then he sees it.  

As the archer’s body flies over the heroes head, and the arrow flies away from his hand. Kageyama twists in midair gracefully, with a confidence that made it seem like he might be jumping from the branches to the heavens instead of the ground.  In that precise moment, as a flash of silver cuts the air in silence, as it reaches its target and meets it right at the heart, and as the demon lets out a strangled scream at its defeat, Kageyama’s smile blinds him.

Shouyou can almost _hear_ the thought that brought that smile to life in amazement.

_I got him! I did it! I won!_

It's the awkward, clumsy, easily angered and flustered _human_ Kageyama shining through the untouchable archer that melts into shadows. His teeth are bared, almost feral but _joyful_ and _free_ , his eyes sparkle and their corners crinkle, and his cheeks flush ever so slightly.

 

Shouyou had to catch his breath.

 

The hit he almost recieves to the head is worth the extra second of viewing Shouyou gets before drawing his sword and heading back into action. 

 “Watch _out,_ you _idiot_!”

“I _know_ what I’m doing, Bakageyama!”

 They win the fight, like they always do. But this time, Shouyou feels like he won something else.  

 

“What the _fuck_ are you _doing_?” Kageyama voice was muffled by his cheeks, as Shouyou kneaded his hands into them, trying to stretch his lips into the same smile from before. He sticks his tongue it and squints in concentration, but it doesn't look quite right. He gets his hands smacked away with a bit more force than necessary. 

Shouyou grins brightly nonetheless.

 

“I’m gonna do _anything_ in my power to see that again!” He promises. Kageyama looks at him weirdly, confused and seemingly wanting to snap something in return, just not knowing what yet, but Shouyou is already turning on his heel and walking away. He’s already thinking about how and when to recreate the same view from before.

 

What kind of friend would he be if he didn't?


End file.
